Marvelous Michaux: California grad starred for Trojans, Vulcans
Submitted photo
California High School graduate Gary Michaux runs the ball for California State College during a game against Slippery Rock.
Submitted photo
California High School graduate Gary Michaux (40) runs the ball for California State College.
Submitted photo
California High School graduate Gary Michaux tries to avoid a tackle while running the ball for California State College.
Gary Michaux cast a big shadow over area football as a top-notch running back at California High School and California State College (now Cal U) in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
A native of Daisytown, Michaux began his football journey at a young age.
鈥淚 think I really started getting interested in eighth grade,鈥� Michaux said. 鈥淧robably the first time I did see a football game was in Ohio when I was nine years old and I saw Jim Brown play. I idolized Brown and Leroy Kelly of the Cleveland Browns. I was visiting an older sister who lived in Ohio.
鈥淚 wasn鈥檛 too crazy about going to school and a man named Jerry Bailey told me if you ever want to get out of here you鈥檝e got to go to school. I think once I got to eighth grade everything changed. I started going to school and paying attention and getting better in classes. He was a good guy and he gave me good advice.鈥�
Michaux was a stellar running back at California High School on some competitive teams. The Trojans were 4-4 under Pete Petroff in 1969 and Michaux saw some action as a sophomore, scoring two touchdowns.
During Michaux蘑菇视频 junior campaign the Trojans went 1-6 under Ken Kulak in his first year as head coach. Michaux scored three touchdowns that season.
Michaux had a breakout season as a senior in 1971 as the Trojans posted a record of 6-2. The losses were to Washington, 27-24, and Albert Gallatin, 24-20. Michaux led the district in scoring with 104 points with 14 touchdowns and 14 extra points.
鈥淐oach Petroff used to talk to me a lot,鈥� Michaux said. 鈥淢y junior high coach who was an assistant coach, Ken Kulak, was there and later became head coach. They had five senior defensive backs and I started on defense and I was the third running back as a sophomore. Coach Kulak told coach Petroff that I was the best defensive back they had. I watched the best receivers from every team. I think about the fourth game of the season after we played Beth-Center. They started alternating me at running back, carrying plays in and out.
鈥淢y playing time at running back went up from there. Even though I became the top running back I never left the field, continuing to play defensive back. The team in 1971 had 13 seniors and we had been playing together since ninth grade and 11 of us played a whole lot of ball when we were sophomores. We had a good team, those two losses were real tough losses.鈥�
As a senior Michaux had a spectacular game against Bentworth scoring four touchdowns in a 42-0 rout.
鈥淚 remember that game,鈥� Michaux said. 鈥淚t was a good game, they had put a good whupping on us when we were juniors. We were looking forward to playing them again.鈥�
The 6-foot-1, 168-pound Michaux was an outstanding runner, but he was also very good catching passes out of the backfield.
鈥淚 did catch passes and they would use me in the slot,鈥� Michaux said.
As a senior Michaux was first team All Class A Century Conference and voted the most outstanding back in the Century Conference. Michaux was team MVP as a junior and a senior.
鈥淚t meant something,鈥� Michaux said. 鈥淚t meant you were doing things the right way.鈥�
Michaux also played basketball for the Trojans, scoring 25 points off the bench in 1970-71 on a squad that finished 13-9, and tallying 57 points as a senior in 1971-72 on a team that was 11-11.
鈥淚 had a great relationship with hoops coach Bucky Bolyard,鈥� Michaux said. 鈥淗e was a heck of an athlete and a heck of a man.鈥�
When Michaux graduated from California High School in 1972 he sifted through some offers to play college football.
鈥淚 had interest from Ohio State and Hayden Fry at Iowa wanted me to go to junior college at Marshalltown Iowa,鈥� Michaux explained. 鈥淚 went there with the intention of then going to Iowa. I played a year at the junior college. The team wasn鈥檛 that good and I played corner back. I was the third running back.
鈥淚 came home for Christmas break and I went up to Edinboro and they were recruiting me real hard and I was enrolled. The day they went to camp I had worked all summer with guys from Cal State and Alan Natali was one of them and I then decided to go to Cal State.鈥�
Looking back, Michaux reflected on what type of running back he was.
鈥淚 would compare myself to a Chuck Foreman type of running back,鈥� Michaux opined. 鈥淚 could run and I had good speed, I could run around people or I could go through them. I could catch the ball as well.鈥�
Elmo Natali took over as head coach of the Cal football program in 1973. He is credited by many with saving the Vulcan football program. Then-university president George Roadman asked Natali to take control of the football program that spring, after former head coach John Katusa stepped down because of health issues. It was a tough period for the Vulcans.
At Cal, Michaux bulked up to 210 pounds and was on squads that went 3-6 in 1973, 1-7 in 1974 and 0-8 in 1975. Michaux was a workhorse running back rushing for 369 yards as a sophomore, 404 yards as a junior and 559 yards as a senior. He totaled 1,332 rushing yards in his career for the Vulcans.
One of Michaux蘑菇视频 biggest games came in a 35-26 loss to Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1975. Michaux exploded for 197 yards and two touchdowns. Michaux won All-Conference honors three of the four years that he played. In 1974 and 1975 he was selected to the Waynesburg All-Opponent Team.
鈥淚 worked hard, I wanted to get somewhere,鈥� Michaux said. 鈥淲e did struggle, but we had some good athletes. I enjoyed playing for Mr. Natali, he was great, he treated me like a son.鈥�
Michaux tried to latch on to a spot playing pro football after he graduated from Cal in 1976.
workforce working at the Volkswagen plant for 10 years. He sold insurance for Metropolitan Life. He was in the credit card department for Citibank and he became an independent contractor for Evo International, a payment processing company. He battled cancer and had major heart surgery. Because of the pandemic he has not worked because he is high risk.
In 2000 Michaux was inducted into the Cal U Hall of Fame.
鈥淚t was a great honor,鈥� Michaux said. 鈥淚t was great to belong to the same club as Mr. Natali, I did something good.鈥�
Michaux, 67, resides in Daisytown with his wife of 20 years, Susan.
Michaux has a great outlook on life.
鈥淚 had an old book that said get rid of your old bananas,鈥� Michaux said. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 look back, you鈥檝e got to move forward.鈥�
George Von Benko蘑菇视频 鈥淢emory Lane鈥� column appears in the Sunday editions of the 蘑菇视频. He also hosts a sports talk show on WMBS-AM radio from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturdays.